Friday, 27 November 2015

Liberty Sophia Top

This pattern was a free gift with Love Sewing magazine a couple of issues back (Issue 19 to be precise). I'm dreadful at utilising free patterns from sewing magazines, but this one caught my eye - I liked the shape and it looked like it would work as a smart top to wear with jeans.

The top is a simple design, just front and back pieces cut on the fold with cap sleeves - it looked like it would be a speedy sew. In fairness, the actual sewing of the top didn't take long at all, it was the fitting that seemed to take thousands of years. I lengthened the front and back pieces by 5" as it's more of a cropped style in its original incarnation. Size wise I cut a size 14 at the bust and a size 10 everywhere else. My first muslin (yes, there were more than one!) showed that the front and back necklines were quite baggy and there was a lot of gaping at the armholes, I removed ⅝"from the front neckline and ⅜" from the back neckline which solved the neckline issue but the gaping armholes weren't so easy to remedy.

I tried to make a dart pivot adjustment (explained very clearly here) but just couldn't get it to work. I even cut a size smaller at the bust to see if that made any difference but if anything it seemed to accentuate the problem! In the end I added two armhole darts - not my finest fitting hour, but by this point I was past caring. They blend right into the fabric anyway and you hardly notice them. I got there in the end and I now have a sweet little going-out top, but crikey, what a rigmarole.

Onto the fabric… Will from Abakhan contacted me this week asking if I'd like to make something from one of the new Liberty Lawns they've just started stocking. Liberty Tana Lawn is my absolute favourite fabric to work with, so I gladly accepted his offer. The one I eventually settled on was a bit of a surprising choice for me - A Boy Dreams in green, designed by Graham Coxon from Blur for the Liberty Rocks collection. At first glance it looks like a plain, dark green fabric, but get a bit closer... look, little kissing faces!

It's very plain and you wouldn't really know it was Liberty fabric unless you were in the know. I do like it though, and as is always the case with me, a plain top provides a perfect backdrop for a big, mad necklace!

...and accompanying big, mad face

The Graham Coxon print seems to have already sold out, but it's still worth hot footing it over to Abakhan to take a peek at the other Tana Lawn Prints in stock. They're currently half price (usual price £22.50), which is the bargain of the century! Better hurry though, once they're gone, they're gone! Have a great weekend. x

Don't let me put you off, I think it was my proportions that made it difficult to fit! It's quite wide across the upper chest to allow for the cap sleeves and because I'm quite narrow in that area it caused a problem. It's a very easy pattern to sew otherwise! x

What a lovely fit, your efforts paid off! Just an observation, just noticed that your lovely Liberty fabric is very similar in colour to the one on the pattern envelope. This happens to me all the time - seem to have all sorts of clothes that are similar to their pattern envelopes!